The Criminon Program in Rwanda
What is Criminon?
Criminon – meaning “without crime” – is an international, non-profit organization dedicated to criminal rehabilitation and reform.
Criminon utilizes the highly effective secular works of author and humanitarian L. Ron Hubbard. Mr. Hubbard continuously searched for the one common denominator that marked anyone’s start of a career in crime. He found that the loss of self-respect is what brought about any life of lawlessness and criminality.
To remedy this, Mr. Hubbard developed a practical and workable methodology which is available today in the Criminon program.
Criminon Methodology
Criminon helps inmates, ex-offenders and at-risk individuals by means of practical courses and on-site programs that teach basic life skills. Offenders gain a practical understanding of right and wrong and the satisfaction of ethical and social conduct — sometimes for the first time in their lives.
The Criminon program is broken down into several modules:
- The Literacy and Learning Module
- Self- Respect Module
- Drug Rehabilitation Module
- Life Skills Module
- Vocational Education Module
This module teaches basic learning skills. It encompasses reading and grammar courses, as well as a course that teaches a student the basic skills of how to study any subject in life without giving up on the studies.
This part starts with the highly successful Way to Happiness Course, followed by a course that teaches personal values and integrity, plus a course that teaches the inmate how to improve conditions in life.
This extensive module covers all aspects of drug addiction. It comprises withdrawal from drugs, a full detoxification program and a drug education program aimed at making inmates fully understand what the source of drug addiction is and how to handle it permanently.
Life skills are aimed at offering the inmate a thorough understanding of interpersonal relationships, of handling negative influences in life and of being a successful parent.
This part of the program aims at improving the inmate’s communication skills and teaches him how to do a job interview. It also comprises computer education and job skills training.
Criminon in Rwanda
Criminon started its program in Rwanda upon the invitation of the Ministry of Interior Security. The program was implemented in order to handle a situation connected to the 1994 genocide. In that genocide war, which took place between April and July 1994, over 1.000.000 people – men, women and children- were killed. The horror of that war still bears its marks on contemporary Rwanda.
In the aftermath of the genocide, more than a hundred thousand people were imprisoned. Tens of thousands still remain incarcerated. Needless to say that the future of Rwanda and the prosperity of its society depend on the rehabilitation of those inmates.
This is where Criminon Africa has been asked to help. A pilot project was run in the 5 prisons centrally located around the country’s capital. Due to its success, the program will soon be implemented in the other 9 prisons.
The first course which is being taught is The Way to Happiness. This practical Road to self-respect is highly effective and therefore very much appreciated by both prison staff and inmates. Witness the request of Gitarama’s prison director, who, in September 2008, asked to extend the course delivery to include the entire prison staff.
“We have quite a few programs running in our prisons, but since we started the delivery of The Way to Happiness course, punishment measures have been reduced to 50%. I am aware that this is because of the inmates putting into practice the precepts of the course. Therefore, I want my staff to do the course as well. The precepts of the course apply to everybody, not only toprisoners. Everybody should do this course, including the children in the schools.”
As we speak, the program brings life-changing results to many prisoners. Criminon Africa receives many success letters, such as this one from a female prisoner of the central prison of Nsinda:
I have read and re-read the booklet Way to Happiness and I have gotten the maximum of advices and other ideas which have brought about a change for me.
For now, I have very good relations with my prison mates. I have a good image, the proof of it is that recently I have been ‘elected’ responsible for the female prisoners of the Nsinda prison.
The course has allowed me to find my place in society and I have started to speak about it to my fellow inmates. I am also translating it in Kinyarwanda in order to disseminate it as widely as possible. I would like to pass this course to my husband and to my children as soon as I have the occasion to do so.
I am determined to form a maximum of my fellow inmates and when I get out of prison to communicate it to my people.
I have noticed in myself changes in my own character, in my way of looking at things, with the result that some of my fellow inmates come to me regularly to ask for advices – they are inviting me to work out issues between them.
I am satisfied of the contents of this book and I thank you very much for all the efforts you have made in order for me to receive it and to teach it to me.
THANK YOU.
S. N .
Central prison of Nsinda
More information on the implementation of the program in Rwanda, its results, and success stories can be found at www.CriminonRwanda.org.
Els Van den Eynde
Criminon Africa
